By Your Side
by ohmytheon
Summary: When Arya tells Gendry some very unexpected news, she's not sure how he'll take it. Meanwhile, he's just worried about her. Somehow, they'll make it all work though.


Author's Notes: Fun fact, I wrote this three days before I had my daughter. This was supposed to be a one-shot, but then people kept requesting more of this.

Disclaimer: I don't own ASIOAF or GOT.

"Oh my god, your brothers are going to _murder_ me."

For a brief moment, Arya thought that Gendry was being a little melodramatic, but then she thought of what Robb and Jon had done after they'd found out that Sansa's ex-boyfriend had hit her and… Okay, maybe he had a fair point. Her big brothers are a tad overprotective.

It wasn't a bad thing – Arya herself had slashed the tires of the boy's Ferrari out of spite – but things were a little different when it came to her. They knew that she could take care of herself just fine. No boy was ever going to treat her badly or there would be a reckoning before her brothers even knew what happened. They let her handle most of her problems on her own, only stepping in or offering advice if she asked. Jon was especially good at that, not being as nosy as Robb, which was why she often went to her half brother for everything.

This though was something entirely different and she didn't really know what to expect, much less know how they would react. It wasn't like Gendry had hurt her or anything – in fact, it was quite the opposite – but things were definitely going to be awkward. Super awkward. Now that she was thinking about her brothers, her mind drifted to the rest of her family and horror finally began to set in. What were her _parents_ going to say?

In front of her, Gendry paced the small living room back and forth. His apartment wasn't much to speak of, but it was a step up from the studio he'd lived in when they had first met. First of all, he had actual, separate rooms with doors. Still, she knew that it made him uncomfortable sometimes considering the size of the house that she had grown up in. The first time he'd met her parents for dinner at their home, his eyes had gone so wide that she'd laughed. He hadn't thought it was very funny; he had looked like he was ready to bolt and kept tugging on his clothes the entire night.

However, unlike then, Arya didn't really know what to do to soothe him now. She felt equally helpless. All she could do was sit on the couch and watch him, feeling both numb and flabbergasted at the same time. No one would ever accuse her of being quiet, but for once in her life, she was speechless and didn't know what to say at all. She'd never expected to be in a situation like this before. Everyone had so many ideas about where they would be in their life when something like this happened and this was…not it.

To be honest, she'd never given it much thought before, which left her feeling even more adrift.

Finally, after running his fingers through his hair for what had to have been the twentieth time, Gendry paused and turned to face her. His face was pink. Of course he would be blushing now. "I, ah, I thought you were on…"

"I was!" Arya exclaimed indignantly. "I _am_! I don't know how–" And then, after hours of wondering and flailing in confusion, it hit her. It hadn't even occurred to her before. Her face slowly began to match his, just as pink. "Remember when I had a sinus infection?"

"Yeah," Gendry replied slowly. "You were miserable. Kept saying you were dying. I spoon-fed you the spicy chicken noodle soup from the Thai restaurant down the street from your place."

Arya didn't think she had been that bad, but then, she couldn't really remember. She'd been on a lot of medication and she was kind of a brat whenever she got sick. It was the only time she would ever let her mother fuss over her when she was a child. "Well, I was taking antibiotics and sometimes those can…mess with it – you know, make it ineffective."

"Oh."

Silence fell over them. Arya continued to watch Gendry as he looked away from her. For some reason, now that he was still, she was beginning to feel even antsier than when he was pacing the room. She wished that he'd say something – do something – anything, but he just stood there, lost in thought.

When he finally came to, he took a deep breath and sat down next to her, taking her hands in his. They were so large compared to her tiny ones. She loved his hands though, so rough and calloused and always seemingly dirty from his work at the mechanic shop no matter what he did to clean them. "So what do you want to do?"

"I…" Arya felt her throat close up and she looked down at his hands, unable to handle the bright blueness of his eyes. "I don't know. I mean, I wasn't expecting this and I wasn't planning on this happening any time soon, but–" She shook her head. "I don't know."

She peeked up at him, but he wasn't looking at her anymore. There was a strained expression on his face. It was the one he got whenever he was thinking really hard or stressed out, which he was most definitely doing both of right now. But then, without warning, the strained expression faded away and was replaced by something she didn't expect: shame and fear.

"I'm with you in whatever you decide. You know that, right? I will back you up." Gendry pulled one hand away from hers so that he could rub his face tiredly. "I know I'm not…" He sighed. "Look, Arya, I know I'm not the best catch, okay? I've got a good job, but there are times when I feel like I'm barely making ends meet and I can't always give you what you deserve. I've never been to college. I live in a dumpy apartment and my car only runs because I can fix it myself. I would completely understand if you didn't…"

Arya jerked her other hand out of his grip, causing him to look up, and glared at him heatedly. "This isn't about you or what kind of 'catch' you are. I wouldn't be with you – I wouldn't even be in this position with you – if I didn't, you know, love you." She was not one for flowery speeches or talking about her emotions, but hell, sometimes they needed to be said in order to get them through his thick skull. "I'm with you, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but it's one thing to date someone, Arya," Gendry told her, "but it's quite another to have a kid with them." His tone was neither cruel or hurt; it just…was. Matter-of-fact, like that was the way life worked. "I would know. My father didn't stick around for longer than a week after he found out my mother was pregnant."

"Are you planning to leave?" Arya questioned.

"No, of course not!" Gendry protested.

"Then what are you getting at?" Arya folded her arms across her chest and folded in on herself, like she was protecting herself from something. "Am I…?" She bit her lip, the fear suddenly very real for her now that she was thinking about it. She'd never been afraid as far as Gendry was concerned before. He was always so consistent and there for her, even when they'd just been friends. "Do you not want to have a kid with me?"

"Arya," Gendry sighed in such a soft voice that she couldn't help but lean forward so that she could bury her face in his chest. How did he manage to get her like this so easily when everyone else struggled with her? "I would do anything for you. I would do anything with you. I can't imagine it being someone else. I just… I don't know. I'd hoped I could offer you more before then and that it wouldn't be at such a bad time for you."

Of course he was thinking of her with such little regard to himself. She was only nineteen and a sophomore in college with a part-time job. Right now, pregnancy was the last thing that she needed added to her plate. She was living in a two bedroom apartment with her childhood friend Mycah out of stubbornness since she wanted to prove that she could take care of herself. But adding a child to the mix would change everything.

"I feel like I threw a wrench in your life plans," Gendry mumbled.

She knocked him in the chest with a fist. "You didn't get me pregnant on your own, you know. If I recall, I kind of threw myself at you the second I was feeling better."

When Gendry pressed his face into the top of her head, she could feel him smiling. "You were very insistent." He took a breath and they both pulled away slightly so that they could look at one another. "So what do we do?"

"I don't know," Arya repeated, feeling helpless again. "But whatever it is, we'll do it together, right?"

"I'm not going to leave you," Gendry told her firmly. "Whatever it takes – whatever you need – I'll do it. I'll get a second job or one that pays better, even if it's shit. I'll save up. I'll go to every doctor's appointment with you, even if–" A determined look came over him. "I'm not going to be like my dad. I'll be there with you every step of the way. I'll be better. I swear."

"You're an idiot if you don't think you already are," Arya said. It definitely wasn't the sweetest thing in the world to say, but it made him smile.

She knew that he meant every word though. The first thing she'd ever figured out about him years ago when they first met, back when she was twelve and he was fifteen, was that he was hard-working. She'd never known someone his age to already have a job. The kids she went to school with got their first car before they got their first job. Gendry though was different. He fought for every scrap that he owned and for everything in his life. She could understand that. And she knew that he would do the same now.

For the first time in days, Arya felt at ease and like she could breathe again.


End file.
